SCC comes up empty at The Well

Joe Geren

Thursday

Mar 7, 2019 at 12:01 AM

It's a waiting game ... to see if there will be another game.

Southeastern Community College had the opportunity to guarantee itself a berth in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I men's basketball national tournament, but Williston State took that away.

The unranked Tetons toppled No. 14 SCC, 91-78, in the District 11 championship game at The Well in Williston, North Dakota, Wednesday night.

Williston State gets the automatic bid. SCC hopes for an at-large pick. The national tournament field will be announced at 11:30 a.m. Monday.

"It's in someone else's hands whether you get in or not," SCC coach Lorenzo Watkins said in a post-game radio interview. "I hope we get another shot at it. It's out of our control. We've got to block it out and move on if we get another shot."

The national tournament is composed of 16 district champions with automatic bids and eight at-large teams.

At least one team ranked higher than SCC lost Wednesday night, jeopardizing the Blackhawks' chances of getting an at-large bid. No. 2 Vincennes was upset by Kaskaskia, 78-76. Six other higher-ranked teams play tonight and one plays Friday.

The Blackhawks lost control in the first half. They led in the early-going, the biggest margin at 13-5, but the Tetons chipped away.

Williston State took the lead four times in the first half and made the last one stick.

SCC's AJ Cox fouled Mychael Paolo on a 3-point attempt and Paolo, a 68 percent free throw shooter, made all three free throws for a 33-31 Teton lead. Williston State wouldn't trail again.

Trenton Massner's 3-pointer with 25 seconds left in the first half allowed the teams to go into halftime with Williston State leading 38-36. The Tetons stretched the margin in the second half. James Jones' 3-point play gave the Tetons their first double-digit lead at 54-42. Two free throws by Amar Miller gave the Tetons their biggest lead at 79-63 with about six minutes left to play.

A Cox free throw and a Massner 3-pointer pulled SCC within 84-76 with 2:52 left, but the Blackhawks would get no closer.

"Our defense was never locked in," Watkins said. "All of a sudden it goes back to not being patient on offense. There wasn't any fire tonight. There was missed communication on getting back (on defense). We gave up layup after layup after layup. That's not us. They had no answer for our guys inside, but that's on me. I should have stressed getting the ball inside."

SCC's two post players combined for 8-for-11 shooting from the field. Kelvon Fuller was 5-for-8 and finished with 14 points. Jaquan Lightfoot was 3-for-3 for six points.

Miller led all scorers with 29 points, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range. Jones had 17 and Sita Conteh contributed 16 for the Tetons.

Massner led SCC with 16 points, his fourth straight game in double figures. He was the Iowa Community College Athletic Association player of the week last week after scoring 20 points in a win over No. 12 Indian Hills. Cox added 13 for SCC.

Williston State shot 59 percent from the field in the second half and was at 47.5 percent for the game. SCC made 32 of 68 shots for 47 percent.

It will be Williston State's first appearance in the national tournament since 2006. SCC's last national appearance was in 2011.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

DMACC 73, SCC 70: Des Moines Area rallied for a Region XI Division II quarterfinal win over Southeastern Community College at Boone.

SCC led 15-11 and 40-28 at the first two quarter breaks, but the Bears launched a 21-9 run in the third quarter to get back into the game.

SCC's Andreisha Waller led all scorers with 21 points. Benedetta Morpurgo scored 17 and Mrylena Stewart added 14. Waller also had eight rebounds. DMACC had five players in double figures. Ellie Horn led with 12 points, Asia Mena had 11 and Aliyah Robinson, Grace Stalzer and Sameria Jackson each had 10 points.

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